Malawi Music for the World!

Spare Dog Records is a Bristol based fairtrade record label which releases and promotes music from Malawi, a small country in Central Southern Africa. We work with our sister project out in Malawi, Moto Wambili Studios, to record a range of original contemporary music from talented artists, in a place where professional recording studios are scarce.

Lonjezo (Chichewa language, meaning ‘Promise’) is a brand new single from Malawi soul giant Danny Kalima, in a kind of chill local pop music style, with a great tropical vibe. Listen to the song right here, click on the cover image to download the track, or better still – go to our shop and pay some money for it, if you want to support the music!

This song was recorded in Lilongwe by DJ Sley – we’re expecting a music video to show up very soon. ENJOY!

ZOONA MALAWI

available Nov 2, 2018

Gasper Nali’s second album, Zoona Malawi (roughly translates to ‘It’s true, Malawi’), is a return to simplicity. While his debut album had a band arrangement of instruments, this time it’s only Gasper.

Recorded on a beach in his hometown of Nkhata Bay, only meters from Lake Malawi, Gasper plays six songs from beginning to end – and that’s it. No additional instruments, no overdubs. Just Gasper’s voice, his huge Babatoni bass guitar and his cow skin kick drum. And that characteristic droning rhythm and hypnotic melodies. And if you listen carefully, the faint sound of the surf in the background. It took three tries to get the recording happening, due to the frequent power cuts in the area and some sporadic end-of-rain-season rain.

Zoona Malawi is released on Nov 2nd, 2018, by Spare Dog Records (UK) together with Mississippi Records (US) and Sing A Song Fighter (SWE) on vinyl and digital.

Pronunciation: The oo in ‘Zoona’ sounds like in ‘More’ or ‘For’ – not like in Zoom.

The tour dates (so far) are here! Netherlands, Scandinavia & the UK – from 11th July to 26th August. Including WOMAD, Zwarte Cross, Malmö Sommarscen, Shambala, BoomTown and many many more. Check out the poster below:

Chulu Cha Nchele – from debut album Live or Die Story. Available on CD from Bandcamp or through all your mainstream favourite streaming or digital platforms.

Adrian Kwelepeta, is an incredible talented young Malawian artist. Moving seamlessly between contemporary R&B, Folk and the traditional, his song-writing already shows substantial depth and maturity. Chulu Cha Nchele is a powerful and moving tale of life sung both in English and Chichewa.

Overton Longwe.

You wouldn’t know it but Spare Dog Records have been away for 6 weeks in Malawi, working on a bunch of new material – and we’ll have a lot of videos coming up shortly to prove it! We’ve for example recorded new music with roots accordion legend Overton Longwe, finished the Tonga Heritage album sessions and made a new stripped down recording with Gasper Nali on the shore of Lake Malawi – without any add-ons of any kind. (These three recordings plus new works by Danny Kalima and Michael Mountain make 5 exciting albums to be released in the near future!)

The Gasper Nali 2018 tour is shaping up! Here he is amongst the first acts to be announced for this year’s WOMAD UK festival – we think that’s a BIG deal! Here’s the blurb:

GASPER NALI is playing at @WOMADFestival alongside the great Amadou & Mariam, Django Django, Camille and many more amazing acts. Join us at #TheWorldsFestival this July and experience the world in a weekend. Don’t miss out on over 200 free workshops, talks, physics, the WOMAD spa, fabulous food from all over the world and amazing music! Find tickets, full line-up and info on the WOMAD website. #WOMAD2018